


Ophiophobe

by IndependenceDayChild17



Category: Carmilla - All Media Types
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-12 20:48:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9090166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndependenceDayChild17/pseuds/IndependenceDayChild17
Summary: ". . . I'd be easier getting a straight answer out of a snake."
"Snakes are such misunderstood creatures. Some ophiophobe writes a smash best-seller and suddenly you're to blame for all the evils of the world."
“Oh, that’s what’s going on here? You and snakes, just the victim of bad press? Cause that doesn’t explain the part where you’re trying to end the world.”





	1. 1697

_“… It’d be easier getting a straight answer out of a snake.” You don’t realize your mistake until she groans._

As a child you had been afraid of snakes, and now as you stand in front of this monstrosity your beginning to reconsider this new found gallantry. The girl you’re doing this for (you don’t remember her name now) stands a few feet back. How she’d convinced you a snake longer than her torso was a meaningful sign of love (lust) you will never know (it was the way she’d looked halfway dressed and panting).

 

“You can do it, Calla!” She urges and you steel your resolve with the sweetness of the nickname she’s given you (if only you’d known then that sweetness was for fools).

 

You took one step – two steps. Bending down to grab the snake by its tail and – **wham!**

 

Suddenly you were in a world of pain. Your wrist hurt more than anything ever could (or so you’d thought at the time) and that pain was spreading like wild fire through your veins. The girl behind you shrieked and you let out a screech that you didn’t think (and honestly are embarrassed about now) could ever come from your mouth.

 

After you’d been dragged back to the castle, she had taken you before your father. He had frowned deeply and sent for a doctor and you had stifled the groan as best you could when he’d prodded your inflated arm. He had raised his eyebrows in disbelief at your tripping story, but let you get away with it.

 

It seemed your fear had been warranted.


	2. 1756

_“Snakes are such misunderstood creatures.” You roll your eyes. You’d heard this speech one to many times, but that god-forsaken woman was obsessed. “Some ophiophobe writes a smash bestseller, and suddenly you’re to blame for all the evils of the world.”_

It’s unseasonably hot and Maman is nowhere to be seen. You stomp your foot like a petulant child – this was supposed to be a vacation, your reward for so effectively enticing girls for Mother’s cause, but now the foolish Prussians had ruined it.

 

You wander the palace grounds, eager to find something to do. You suppose Maman expected the newly remodeled architecture to entertain you, but instead it reminds you that you’re getting old. You’ve almost given up on finding something pleasurable on the palace grounds when you stumble across a pavilion.

 

Thirteen cages surround you, each containing a creature that you have never seen before. Each is magnificent but you find yourself at a loss for what they are called. One in particular catches your eye and you spend the next few hours bewitched by the largest black cat you have ever seen.

 

“I see you’ve found the menagerie.” Her silken voice stirs you from your reverie and you smile shyly at her.

 

“This one is magnificent.” You admire aloud. Mother studies the cat for a few moments, watching it carefully as it finally comes to rest on a rock. When she looks back at you her smile is too tight – but exactly what you had expected.

 

“She is quite the pet.” She makes no more mention of the animal as she offers you her hand, gracing you with a tight-lipped smile. “Come. Let me show you a creature worthy of such praise.” You can’t help but deflate at her words, but she doesn’t seem to notice as she leads you to a cage across the way.

 

She searches the shaded enclosure with such intensity that you almost feel jealous of whatever beast is hidden within. “There!” She exclaims suddenly and you instinctively jump back from the largest snake you have ever seen. She doesn’t notice your reaction (which you are thankful for after) but instead pulls you close, coiling her arms around you and resting her chin on your shoulder.

 

“Isn’t she majestic?” She whispers (later you imagine it sounded like a hiss). You shake your head dumbly in assent as she continues to laud the virtues of snakes. You tune her out – carefully – and focus on ignoring your fear.

 

The snake is watching.


	3. 1999

_“Oh, that’s what’s going on here? You and snakes, just the victim of bad press? Cause that doesn’t explain the part where you’re trying to end the world.”_

 

The door banged shut and you almost jumped out of your chair. You froze as Mother entered the room. The rage in her eyes terrified you, but when she saw you her face softened; her eyes cooled. She walked slowly, wearily over to the couch where you’d been reading and slumped down in the most gauche manner you had ever seen from her.

 

You sit waiting, staring at the ground in front of you; unsure how to handle a side of this woman you hadn’t seen in over a century and a half. She sighed loudly and you look up just in time to see her rolling her eyes. “What are you reading, darling?”

 

Her question was not exactly unexpected, but you find yourself blushing. “Um, _Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone_.” She raises an eyebrow at you and you look away, embarrassed. You were a centuries old vampire and here you were caught (by a goddess it turned out) reading a children’s book. “I –“

 

She cuts you off before you can spit out a reasonable explanation. “Will you read it to me?” You look back at her quickly – she must be mocking you – but she’s resting heavily on the couch; her head laid back; her eyes closed.

 

You can’t help the giddy feeling that flits around your chest. It had been so long since you’d had a moment like this with her. You quickly turn back to a part of the book your sure she’ll enjoy (you weren’t much further along anyway) and begin:

“ ‘The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry’s.

 

 _It winked._ ’ ”

 

You glance over quickly enough to see the corner of Mother’s lips rise in a slight smile. She’d always loved snakes and you thought this might get her to stay longer; to be present with you – just you. You would have never imagined she’d let you finish the book.

 

You read well into the night and six hours later you close the back cover. She is openly smiling now with her eyes still closed, her feet across your lap. You both were so caught up in the book that you discuss it for the next hour or so. As you’d imagined she was quite taken with parseltounge and she spent ten minutes describing how she identified strongly with the character of Harry. You let her talk, enchanted by her openness, even as you try to ignore the sinking feeling in your chest.

 

Later, after she had left you, – a chaste kiss placed on the corner of your mouth – the bad memories, the _terror_ , came rushing back; crashing into you like _sickening_ waves. You can feel yourself _choking, suffocating, dying_ on the blood _filling_ your mouth. You race outside to _vomit_ on the grass.

 

The imaginary _constriction_ in your throat is too much – it all goes **black.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Excerpt From: J.K. Rowling. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.” Pottermore, 2015. iBooks. https://itun.es/us/QfL09.l


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